Astoria: Astor and Jefferson's Lost Pacific Empire: A Tale of Ambition and Survival on the Early American Frontier - Softcover

"In Astoria, Peter Stark recounts the colony's history as a fast-paced, enjoyable adventure tale."--Wall Street Journal

"[Descriptive] passages . . . make Stark's fine book truly distinctive. They raise Astoria above the level of a well-done historical adventure and help the reader get into a scene and understand the context or see relationships between participants and between then and now."--Chicago Tribune

"Stark tells their grim story well . . . 'Astoria' is a well-written . . . account of John Jacob Astor's attempt to found a commercial empire in the Pacific Northwest. It illuminates the cultural limits of the American approach to frontier expansion."--Portland Oregonian

"In this harrowing historical tale of adventure and hardship, journalist Peter Stark re-creates a largely forgotten 19th-century expedition-during which one group crossed the Rockies and another sailed around Cape Horn-to establish America's first colony on the Pacific Northwest coast."--Parade Magazine

"A fast-paced, riveting account of exploration and settlement, suffering and survival, treachery and death. [Stark] recovers a remarkable piece of history: the story of America's first colony on the continent's West coast."--Kirkus (Starred Review)

"A page-turning tale of ambition, greed, politics, survival, and loss."--Publishers Weekly

"New York businessman Astor, with support from President Jefferson, launched two expeditions in 1810 - overland and by ship ... and Stark recounts the perilous journeys."--New York Post

"The story of its founders is harshly inspiring, a deeply researched look into the irresistible drive to explore the unknown and the capacity of people to survive, not only the elements, but one another."--Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Author Peter Stark retraces the journey in spellbinding detail, making use of journals to get inside the minds of these explorers who set out just two years after Lewis and Clark successfully crossed the continent. . . . Astoria brings to life a harrowing era of American exploration."--Bookpage

"Stark's compelling, contextual account of Astoria's founding--at one time documented by none other than author Washington Irving - casts this early venture as a pivotal point in the development of the Pacific Northwest and the nation."--Crosscut (Seattle)